Bjorn Lindeblad posted the picture of his friend Gustavson, a former fireman who suffers from serious burns over his face, to celebrate his 60th birthday on Monday along with a celebratory message. However the image was quickly removed not once, but twice by the platform.

“It’s an offensive system Facebook has with this kind of censorship. You could call it a kind of racism,” said Gustavson, who was left disfigured after a fire 35 years ago. “When I was 24, I probably would have felt offended and upset that pictures of me were considered wrong and unpleasant… It is a very volatile and sensitive time… but now I have lived so long with my burns.”

The post was restored after Lindeblad contacted Facebook to complain and made a viral post criticizing the social network.

“Would you like to help me protest against a despicable Facebook policy?” posted Lindeblad on Facebook. “Then please share and spread this photo of one of the most beautiful souls I know. I’m now posting it on Facebook for the third time within 36 hours. Facebook has removed the photo twice already, with no explanation whatsoever. And then they expelled me from my Facebook account.”

“At first, I was flabbergasted” Lindeblad continued. “Then several burn victims contacted me and explained that photos of burn victims are often classified in the same category as sexist and racist photos on Facebook. Oh dear. So let’s let Facebook know how we feel about this policy by spreading this photo far and wide!”

Facebook apologized for the “mistake,” claiming, “A member of our team accidentally removed something you posted on Facebook. This was a mistake, and we sincerely apologise for this error. We’ve reinstated the content, and you should now be able to see it.”